More than half of care workers attacked at work including being head-butted, strangled and stabbed with a bread knife

More than half (52 per cent) of care workers suffered physical or verbal attacks during the past three years at work, a GMB survey has found.

In the poll of more than 1,600 care workers in May and June, GMB members revealed they had been headbutted, strangled, punched, kicked and suffered broken bones.

Workers also reported being hit with walking sticks, Zimmer frames, shoes, brooms, cut with razors and had hot water thrown over them.

Racial abuse featured heavily in the survey and – shockingly – much of the abuse came from family members rather than the residents themselves

One worker said they were ‘battered, stabbed with bread knife hot tea thrown over me hit with plate and cups’.

Another reported being bitten so hard she began bleeding.

The findings were discussed at GMB’s annual conference in Blackpool on Monday.

Will Dalton, GMB National Officer, said:

Sadly, violence is a part of daily working life for our hard-working carers. They put up with horrifying levels of abuse, on poverty wages, because they care deeply about their job and the people they look after.

As a society, we owe it to these dedicated professionals to make sure they are paid enough to live a decent life.

And when attacks do happen, they must be taken seriously and backed to the hilt by their employers.